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How Wide Can Printable Images Be Without “Shrink To Fit?”

Ok, so I'm doing the printable version of a webpage layout for a client. The "tarket" is older middle-aged men and this particular page is printed a lot. I started with the assumption that browsers print by default at 72 ppi unless "shrink to fit" is turned on, which is a logical assumption considering how large browsers typically print things. But then I got to thinking, "is that a valid assumption? It's been a long time since I've measured it…"

So I do some print preview screen captures in Firefox 3 and IE 7, and am plesantly surprised that they both print at higher resolutions than I thought. Unfortunately, they don't both print at the same resolution. I also tested in Firefox 3 on Mac OS X, and it's different than either Windows browser.

IE 7 seems to print at 96 ppi, which is pretty logical, but Firefox 3 only prints at 91.5 ppi…? What's that about? Mac Firefox was higher than both, but I didn't bother measuring it since I only cared if it was lower. The other bizarre thing is the default margins. They tend to be larger than I expected, around 0.6-0.8 inches on the left and right, leaving a lot less printable area than I thought based on my first screen captures.

So the result: the optimal printable width seems to be 660 pixels wide, since the lowest resolution browser (Firefox 3) seems to print 664 pixels total, but I just rounded it down. Now, most of the time this doesn't matter since a lot of people just use "shrink to fit" all of the time. But if you have a page that just has to be guaranteed to print correctly, aim for 660 pixels or narrower and you'll be golden.

“of People and Pixels” is the blog of Charlie Fiskeaux II.
I love writing about thought-provoking questions with the hope of prompting dialogue or perhaps just getting people to think about things differently than they have before. (I think everyone should examine opposing viewpoints because most people are just too dogmatic about unimportant things.) I also love web design and enjoy passing on tips, techniques, and cool things I find.
If you would like to contact me, I usually can be found at graefen@gmail.com. Content and design are Copyright 2008-2012 Charlie Fiskeaux II.